The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Champaign, IL
Champaign is the ninth-largest city in Illinois, with 92,300 residents in Champaign County · Updated November 2026
Is Champaign, IL safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, Champaign has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 68% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent and property crime both grade B+ here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Champaign run from A+ to F, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 715 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
32% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Champaign as a whole, and 68% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Champaign scores 715.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Champaign, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Champaign, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Champaign
Burglary is the exception. Champaign grades B+ for property crime, but burglary grades B-, worse than in the neighborhoods where 90% of Americans live.
The safest and least safe parts of Champaign
Low crime is the norm across Champaign: 86% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 11% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Champaign run from A+ to F; 30% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
86%11%
A or B 86%C 3%D or F 11%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Champaign, the southwest side has the least crime and the north side the most.
Is crime going up in Champaign?
Reported crime in Champaign has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 47% and property crime down 11%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 9.3 to 4.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 25 to 22 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime rose 24%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
ChampaignUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Champaign. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Champaign
Violent, US
Property, Champaign
Property, US
2016
-17%
+4%
+38%
+15%
2017
-22%
+4%
+20%
+12%
2018
-23%
+0%
-4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+0%
+4%
-28%
-8%
2021
-16%
+6%
-36%
-10%
2022
-19%
+5%
-19%
-6%
2023
-50%
+2%
-28%
-7%
2024
-47%
-4%
-11%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Champaign
CrimeGrade™ estimates Champaign has about 49 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 33% more than the US as a whole and 16% more than Illinois.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
The largest share of crime reported in Champaign is assault, about 36% of the total. It also makes up the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Champaign
Champaign has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Champaign, 55% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 51% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (55%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (37%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (51%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (49%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (32%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (49%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Champaign compares with nearby cities
Champaign has the most crime of its 7 nearest cities.
Two things set Champaign apart: it has 15 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby, and a Walk Grade of C (35 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. Even so, 59% of residents in Champaign live in car-dependent areas, where most errands take a car. It also combines many jobs with busy transit: places with both tend to report more theft and robbery than places with only one of them, and robbery runs high here.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Champaign: D (14 of 100).15 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 89% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault.C (35 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 85% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.9.3% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 82% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.13.8 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 81% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.6 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 76% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.58 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 74% of US city residents
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Champaign
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Champaign about $1,330 a year per household, 10% more than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $154 million a year, or $1,672 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$6.9 million
$74
Rape
$4.0 million
$44
Robbery
$2.5 million
$28
Assault
$18 million
$199
Burglary
$4.7 million
$51
Theft
$6.9 million
$74
Vehicle theft
$3.2 million
$35
Arson
$180,000
$2
Vandalism
$4.8 million
$52
Total
$52 million
$559
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Champaign means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Champaign, IL average a SchoolGrade of B-: 44% of students test proficient, against 28% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Champaign on SchoolGrade
